Sinclair's old flame, Catherine Sakai, arrives during a weeklong festival
when humans and aliens demonstrate their religious beliefs. An old enemy
sends an assassin to kill G'Kar.
Thomas Kopache as Tu'Pari.
Julia Nickson as Catherine Sakai.

"Never fails," says Garibaldi when Catherine
comes aboard. Apparently he's known her and Sinclair for a very
long time. They seem to run into one another every three years,
though this is the first time in a while that they've both been
available.

Later G'Kar explains to Na'Toth why he can't ask for
help: "...this would lead to some unfortunate revelations about my
years on the council, revelations that could affect my position.
Personally, I don't care if the information comes out. My
only concern is that it might compromise our standing in the
negotiations."

The best assassins among the Narn are the
"Thenta Makur." They are well-organized and respectable in their
own way. They leave a "death blossom" to give their mark time to
get their affairs in order, and offer a solid guarantee: they will
personally kill any assassin who betrays a commission.

It's a celebration of life. It comes from a time in our
world's history when two dominant species were fighting
for supremacy: our people, and a species we called "Xon".
At year's end, we count how many of our people survived,
and celebrate our good fortune!

When Lennier greets Delenn as "Satai," she rebukes
him: "No-one here knows of my connection. No-one must find out
[...] it would lead to certain questions I don't want to answer
just now." Apparently, it is well-known among the Minbari who are
the members of the grey council. They are also greatly revered,
judging by Lennier's reluctance to raise his eyes in her presence.

Vir'sspeech is quite remarkable.
What endured after the Centauri conflict with the Xon was a
celebration of survival, rather than a mourning for those lost. This
is notable both for what they chose to focus on (the joyous rather
than the sad), and for its suggestion that the Centauri may have
been nearly destroyed by the Xon (everyone was lucky to have
survived each year).

This theme may be the very story of the Xon and
the Centauri, for the Centauri eventually destroyed them and didn't
lose momentum until they were an empire spanning an entire quadrant
of the galaxy (cf: "The Gathering" ).
This may also become the story of the Centauri the Narn: the
Centauri invaded their homeworld and held sway for a hundred years,
but now the Narn are free and bent on destruction, while the
Centauri are on the decline.

Among the many Centauri household gods on the
banquet table are Ben-Zan, god of food, Mo-Goth, god of the
underworld and protector of front doors, and Li, goddess of
passion. The golden statue of Li portrays her with both arms and
one leg raised. Visible on her body are breasts, a very large
male hair-crest, and three tentacles emerging from her
hips on both sides. (cf. "The Quality of Mercy")

Atranscript of
Delenn's recital during the Minbari ceremony is available.

"From birth {Londo}, through death and renewal {Vir},
you must put aside old things {Garibaldi}, old fears
{Sinclair}, old lives {Ivanova}. This is your death
{G'Kar}, the death of flesh..."

For the record, Londo and Vir eat their fruits,
Garibaldi declines, Ivanova puts hers down, G'Kar exchanges his
with hers, Ivanova (unawares) then eats hers, and G'Kar gives his
new fruit a distrustful sniff. Sinclair, under Delenn's compelling
gaze, eats his as well.

When Catherine hears about "red fruit" being part
of the Minbari ceremony, she asks if there was a serious exchange
of looks. When Sinclair confirms this, she chuckles, "Oh it's a
rebirth ceremony all right. It also doubles as a marriage
ceremony. Depending on how seriously anyone took it, somebody got
married the other day." Sinclair did not mention who was seriously
looking at whom - he may in some sense now be married to Delenn.

I'm thinking of thinking of calling her right
after my afternoon nap.
I'm thinking of thinking of sending her flowers,
right after Bonnie gets back.
So many fishies left in the sea,
so many fishies - but no-one for me...
I'm thinking of thinking of hooking a love,
soon after supper is done.

Londo's joke:
Garibaldi: And what happened to the Xon?
Londo: Dead, all of them, and good riddance. Do you know what the last
Xon said, just before he died? "AAAAARGH!"
Garibaldi (to Sinclair): Can I kill him now?

There is consistency in the shape of Minbari
head-bones. The top edge of the female head-bone is a smooth curve
back to a raised point in back, while the top edge of the male
head-bone rises to several points on its way back.

Six different atmospheres are currently available on B5. Others may be
created by prior arrangement. Uncommon atmospheric makeups may be
synthesized for encounter suits. For specific atmochemical breakdowns
see monitor below.

Regarding making people laugh until their sides hurt...this
is something I always go for. It's easy to go for the "well, that's
amusing" stuff, but to make someone laugh out loud, or even until it
hurts, is tough. In most (but not all) cases, I try to get one solid
laugh per episode, one moving scene per episode, and one "head-conk"
per episode. The first obligation of a writer is to make you *feel*
something, and if I can do that in an episode, then I've done my job.

It helps in that I'm not generally a big laugher; when I go to plays
or movies with other people, and they're comedies, afterwards I'll
always get "Why didn't you like it?" "I did." "You didn't laugh."
"I was just thinking about how funny it was." Usually I can see a
punchline coming, and part of my brain is racing ahead to what it
might be. (And half the time at least I'm right.) So I've adopted
the philosophy that if I find something extremely funny, other people
will laugh at it; if I'm so tickled that I absolutely laugh out loud,
I know it'll probably kill several people. As a result, if I'm going
for a funny scene, I don't leave it alone until I laugh at it.

When I thought about Londo passing out face first on the banquet table
uttering "...but in purple, I'm *stunning*," I just about fell off my
chair laughing. Sometimes I'm a little broad in my comedy, other
times I go for something a little more literate or (one hopes) witty
(most of these go to Ivanova, whereas the broad stuff tends to go to
Londo in most cases). But I try to keep it varied.

Strangely enough, the comics that *do* manage to break me up are all
the more assaultive ones...Jerry Lewis, Robin Williams, Buddy Hackett
(who can reduce me to tears), and a few others.

By the way...on the Kosh poisoning thread, which was originally to
be discussed in "Parliament"...we ended up about 3 minutes long on
"Parliament," and three minutes short on D.C. Fontana's "War Prayer."
So we lifted that scene and inserted it into her episode, doing a
small bit of ADR to facilitate the move. It's now quite seamless.

Bill Mumy came in to audition, same as eveybody else. It
was known then that it was a recurring role (contrary to his
recollection of things), and when he walked in the door, I knew he was
right.

BTW, this week will Bill Mumy's first week on B5, and he's done a
very nifty job as Lennier. He brings a wonderful sense of absolute
innocence...the proverbial innocent abroad...to Lennier's character.
The Minbari prosthetics look great on him, enhancing the sense he
brings to the character. He's also great with the cast, and keeping
things up during shooting. At one point, as they're leaving camera,
Delenn says to Lennier, who has just arrived at the station, "Now
tell me of home; I have been away far too long." His ad-libbed
off-camera response: "Beatlemania is back." (Another ad-lib for
another shot: "Minimalls...they're everywhere," and "Well, we just
got Pizza Hut and cable.")

Regarding Catherine Sakai...believe me, this ain't a consort kind of
relationship. It will be monogamous, but difficult in many ways.
This has been an on-again/off-again relationship between them for
years, made up of three parts passion and two parts teeth. It will
be a very fiery relationship. And this is a woman with her own
business, her own ship, who comes and goes as she wishes. You have
to understand that I love writing strong female characters, and
Catherine will be probably one of the strongest.

Catherine Sakai is played by Julie Nickson Soul, an asian-american
actor who's done quite a bit of work in high-profile films. Her
character is never Cathy, only Catherine (occasionally Cath to
Sinclair, but *only* occasionally). She's a planetary surveyer,
working for one of the Earth corporations, looking for uninhabited
worlds and asteroids for exploitation.

We've shot our first scenes between Sinclair and his new love
interest, Catherine Sakai (as played by Julia Nickson). This is a
very, very strong character, and she brings a wonderful vibrancy to
Sakai. They have a unique relationship that looks and sounds like
a real relationship, with all its ups and downs and dumb moments.
One way that I've reinforced this is that...well, in the first
episode in which they meet again (they were involved before), just
about every scene between them is lifted almost directly from
personal experience.

And given some of the awkward, even painful conversations that take
place, it was very, *very* hard to watch this being rehearsed.
(Michael and Julia worked over a weekend with the director to get the
nuances just right.) When it came time to shoot the scenes, much as
I wanted to be on-set, I just couldn't do it. My heart just kept
falling right down to my shoes. I can't wait for the first person to
say "I don't buy this as a real relationship" just so's I can whap
him upside the head. But I have a hunch that won't happen. It comes
across as very real, and as a very vulnerable moment for both
characters.

"Write what you know," they said. Right. How about I just take a
power drill and stick it in my ear...it'd be faster, less painful,
and after a while I might even come to like it....

A parliament is a gathering of officials, of representatives, which
matches the story in terms of representatives of different places,
and beliefs. The dreams are the belief systems.

The "stay put" line was ad-libbed by Andreas, because the crawfish
kept crawling off the table.

Yes, definitely keep in mind the intent of the ceremony...but be
sure to remember *all* aspects of it. (see
Analysis)
Also, take a good look at Li, goddess of passion, in Londo's
ceremony. There's something about it that will be very funny
later. (see Analysis)

The quote Delenn recited in "Parliament" was the quote
from Valen when he formed the first Grey Council.

RE: the glasses...it's not something I've been able to figure out
how to mention, but the Narn pride themselves on their physical
perfection. Hence there is no market for physical aides; it's
something to be ashamed of. So they have to crib stuff from other
species, like glasses that have a prescription close enough to be
useful. I have *no* idea how to work that into a script, and am
not sure it is even a good idea to do so.

The atheist was not only first in line, he was the best dressed and
smartest looking and nattiest one in the line.
jm(what a coincidence)s

From a personal point of view, I'm very fond of "The Parliament of
Dreams," which is a very funny show, and at times a very emotional
show. "Parliament" is all over the place...it's got all of our
major characters, our ambassadors, their seconds, we see lots of
group scenes, we're all over the station, dipping in and out of
three different but interconnected stories...it's really a matter
of keeping a lot of balls in the air at one time, and I think we
pulled it off nicely.

There's one truly remarkable shot we did for the current episode, shot
Friday evening. Generally, in any shot with a crowd, you need
about 20-45 people. That's usually enough to fill out the shot
in any set you can go to. More than that gets costly, and
isn't really noticeable unless you frame your shot just *so*.
Yesterday's shot has 160 extras. It's a very impressive, and
very moving shot. It appears in the tag of "the Parliament of
Dreams." It's the kind of shot you just don't see anywhere
else. We had some people from PTEN and a film crew for a
behind-the-scenes piece on hand, and they all commented on how
only this show would do this shot...and how significant it is.
(I can't tell you what it was, because that gives it away, and
I want it to be kind of a surprise; suffice to say you'll
definitely know it when you see it.)

The SkyDancer appears in the next episode. "See you next Wednesday"
is...well...it's when she's going to be back on the station. She has to
complete her run by Tuesday, and will be back on Wednesday. Sometimes a
cigar is just a cigar....

[G'Kar's] song is an original, by our series composer, Christopher
Franke.

The "fishy" song was composed by Christopher Franke specifically for
that scene. I told him I wanted sort of a Narnish Gilbert and
Sullivan, and that's what we got.

I would think that Londo and G'Kar might actually find something in
common in appreciation of Gilbert and Sullivan. In fact, G'Kar's
"little fishie" song in "Parliament of Dreams" was intended to be a
bit G&S in nature.

One of my favorite exchanges, which never seems to show up, is from
PoD v.1, when G'Kar says to Tu'Pari, who has come looking for
Ambassador G'Kar, "This is Ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is
Ambassador G'Kar's table. This is Ambassador G'Kar's dinner. What
part of this progression escapes you?"

Episode #5 is the two year anniversary of B5 going on-line; not two
years since the pilot movie. It took about a year and a half to
grow to this point, and for the final of the Big 5 ambassadors, Kosh,
to arrive, completing the group. It's now roughly six months after
that, into the new year.

"So, I've been wondering who made up Londo's line in Parliament,
`but in purple, I'm stunning!'"

Ummmmm.....the scriptwriter?

The Xon did evolve into fair amount of intelligence. There are a
very few land masses on Centauri Prime, separated by huge oceans.
The two species evolved pretty much separately, on different
continents that were absolutely unreachable until one or both sides
developed sufficient technology for extended sea travel...and that's
when all hell broke loose.

There's a definite improvement arc in the show; the deeper we got
into production, the better the stories generally became, and the
better the production values. (With a few exceptions.) The biggest
change in the show came once we began writing scripts *after* we'd
begun shooting episodes, so that we/I could again see the actors and
find their fingerprints. "Parliament" is the first one I wrote after
we started filming; "Soul," "Infection" and "Midnight" were all
written prior to filming starting.

You're seeing, btw, why this episode, much as it's a favorite,
couldn't be shown any sooner; there has to be some familiarity with
the characters for this to be most effective.

Re: G'Kar being theatrical...that's who he is. I like theatrical
characters. I know many in real life that're much bigger than life,
very broad...and great fun. Not every character has to be sonorous
and serious and restrained. The whole point of *having* alien
characters is that they shuld act differently than the majority of
us.

The Xon? Dead. All of them. And good riddance.

The Xon weren't any more evil or good than the race that survived;
two equally sentient species emerged on the Centauri homeworld over
the course of evolution. They were more or less separated by
distance and land masses and oceans, so there was little contact
until either side developed the technology required to find the other.
It was the next best thing to a first contact situation, except it's
on their own world; they were very much alien to one another.
Somewhere along the line, it was decided that this world wasn't big
enough for both of them, so they began a campaign of slaughter against
each other. Londo's people won.

Kosh was otherwise engaged....

Actually, many of the alien races do *not* have monolithic religious
beliefs. You'll note that G'Kar didn't take part in the festival
from the Narn POV. You'll see Narn beliefs in "By Any Means
Necessary," and there it's mentioned that there are many different
bliefs among Narns, G'Quon and G'Lan being the two larger systems.

Sure, I could've gotten them into bed by the second act...but that
wasn't the point. What I wanted to show, what interests me, is the
give and take leading up to that moment, the feints and parries and
"how do we get past this?" That to me is some of the most
interesting stuff in a relationship.

As to the interpretation of the final tag scene...my thought was that
it's a way of saying, "Our dominant belief is that ALL beliefs are
respected."

There was a follower of Islam; right next to the orthodox jew at the
front of the line. "Mr. Rashid, a Moslem." I made sure we put them
side by side.

I didn't say that Earth was the ONLY one with diverse religions. I
don't understand why it is that when ONE thing is shown, it means
that's the ONLY thing. It's not. Narns, as we'll see in "By Any
Means Necessary," have several competing beliefs. The idea of the
festival wasn't to compare and contrast, only to show what *we*
(whoever *we* is) believes.

Well, we're doomed...I just realized today that our first *really*
strong episode, "The Parliament of Dreams," airs the same night (in
most markets, the 23rd) as the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan face off
in the olympics.

Needless to say, though, we got *creamed* by the Tonya/Nancy Show.
Which got a 64 share, the 3rd biggest ratings for a sporting event in
history. But then, *everybody* got beat up by that one, so again
it's okay.

The line, "See you next wednesday," was basically an offhand line,
slightly but not significantly based in the idea that in most markets,
B5 airs on Wednesdays. It was never meant to be a John Landis
reference, and if I'd known it was (I'd never heard it before),
would've changed it.

I keep constantly fighting the urge to have G'Kar return from a trip
to the Narn homeworld with a limp, a cane, and a (temporary) eyepatch,
muttering, "Boy, the Thenta Makur have *no* sense of humor."

(Now we'll see how many get *that* one.)

BTW, re: Sinclair remembering all those names...we used many of the
real names of the people standing in line, many of whom *did* belong
to the religion they had come to represent. We went down this line
of 250 people, and went over their names *twice* with O'Hare. That's
all. After that, he got each name right every time; amazingly quick
memorization.

This is something that Andreas and I discussed, and it's not so much
that G'Kar *has* to cook, but that he *likes* to cook. From the
singing, it's clear he's having a good time....

Ko'Dath met with an unfortunate accident with an airlock.

Just learned that Babylon 5 won an Emmy for its Makeup Design, for
"The Parliament of Dreams." This is our second Emmy so far, our
first for the series. I'm determined that next year we get some
notices for our acting and other above-the-line areas.

In any event, congratulations to our makeup and prosthetics design
people.